The Beatles Rubber Soul Album Review - How Good Still?

everyone thanks for joining me if you like chat about the Beatles McCartney Lennon and other classic rock artists then please subscribe to my channel and you will be notified of my future videos thank you very much today we are looking at the Beatles Rubber Soul album plastic soul man plastic so saruba Souls released on the 3rd of December 1965 by that time that year the Beatles had already made an album they'd made a film they'd been on a full world tour they decided that they needed to get an album out in time for the Christmas market so they made this album and then went out on an 18 date UK tour just to finish the year off absolutely crazy to think that any band could fit that much into one year after they've pretty much done similar the year before as well so Rubber Soul they wrote most of the album after they'd finished the the US tour in the summer of 1965 and it's quite a progression from what they've done before you can see that it's influenced by Bob Dylan probably the birds as well it's got that kind of folks feel to it especially the the US version of the album now I'm mainly going to talk about the UK version but I am going to talk about the differences between the two different versions that got put out so they came in to the studios in October to start recording this album and they've got most of the songs ready but certainly not all of them by that point and in fact at one point during October they actually cancelled the studio sessions that they had booked because they'd run out of material they had to go and write some more so that they could come back and continue making the album they were recording things like 12-bar original which you'll know from anthology 2 and it was it was not great it was it was trying to be sort of like an authentic blues kind of buckety in the MGS kind of thing but actually it was it was pretty average and it's no surprise that it got left on the shelf for over 30 years until the anthologies came out it certainly wouldn't have been up to the standards that's on the Rubber Soul album also during the sessions for this album the record a day tripper can work it out which were then taken away an issued of course as a double a-side single so I mean imagine what reversal would have been like with those two songs on it as well incredible that they could just take those out and leave them off that just shows the quality of the material that they had to hand at the time in a moment I'm gonna go through each song on the album and give them a thoughts on it but I just wanted to just show you the versions of the album that I've got so up here you'll see that's the 1987 CD I've got all my beetles 1987 CDs up in that top corner there and Rubber Soul that was my first version of the album that I ever had and the one that I got to know I've also got the vinyl version from the Beatles mono box set absolutely stunning version that is by far my favorite version of the album over here I've got the version from the Beatles 2009 stereo remasters that's the CD version from that I've got the mono CD from the mono CD box set and appear is that American version which I've got as part of the Capitol albums box set but that's the version of cost those those of you in America who were around at the time probably got to know that particular version of the album and that's the version that Brian Wilson got to know so this album was a massive influence on on Brian he then said that he wrote Pet Sounds pretty much off the back of wanting to do something as good as Rubber Soul because this album had blown him away and it's almost certainly I would imagine the American version of the album that he's talking about the American version of the album's is it's really interesting how different it is to the UK version which is the version that the Beatles put together and then of course Capitol Records made this version themselves so Drive my car is not there that doesn't open the album and instead we've got I've just seen a face which people in Britain would have known from the help album previously earlier on in the year that album also includes it's only love again originally from the UK version of the health album but it doesn't have what goes on the song that Ringo sang and it also doesn't have or if I needed someone nowhere mum to me is a particularly interesting omission just because I think it would have fitted even though the in America they were trying to go for a folky aversion of the album and I thought nowhere man would have fitted that book no that was kept off and some of those songs were issued the following year on the yesterday and today album instead so it always intrigues me how people in America and people in Britain got to know such different versions of the album's and even to this day people are still obviously very fond of the version of the album that they grew up with so let's have a look through the songs on the album like so I'm going to go through the UK version here so it starts with drive my car which i think is a great opening to the album it's a real good paul rocker telling the story of a girl who just wants to be famous a star of the screen but you know for now you can drive my car and it's got that classic beat beat yeah which i think that's one of those things that even if you don't know the beatles song there's a it's been used in so many things in TV over the years that just that particular phrase is it is really sort of well-known in its own right next up it's norwegian wood which i would say is in my top 10 songs of all time by anybody notable of course because it was the first use in a western pop rock song of the indian sit our instruments now i believe that speak it the case if i'm not right with that please let me know but that's always been my understanding and i think it's really interesting to look back a few months to the help film and there's a scene in an indian restaurant where the beatles are and there's there's indian music playing in the background and it'd be lovely to think that you know that would have been something that would have inspired george ii to start thinking about that type of music because of course he went on to have a love of it for the rest of his life i actually looked up a couple years ago what and what particular albums was it of Ravi Shankar that he was interested in that got him into it because it always said how Ravi was the main influence for him and I tracked it down to this an album called portrait of genius which I've now got the CD of obviously and this was recorded in 1964 so this was a new album at the time and I would really recommend this you're interested to sort of think about what inspired George Harrison to get into Indian music have a look at portraited genius by Ravi Shankar from 1964 because that is the album that George said was his main influence starting out on that path so the song itself it's a great song of course by John and just a great story about going back to a girl's house and her and showing him her room and she goes to have a bath and she she lights a fire it just it just tells a really great story possibly a true story could it be John talking about an affair that he once had possibly speaking and but it's just a beautiful song and absolutely one of my favorites next up you won't see me so another Paul song and this runs at about three and a half minutes which for four Beatles songs at that period of time was was almost unheard so if and it feels like even the three-and-a-half minutes isn't long for a song it feels like a long song if you've been listening to Beatles songs sort of up to that point but a real good pop song by Paul he was starting to really sort of come into his own as a writer by this point and I think you've been overshadowed by John in the early days John was very much the leader and was probably sort of bringing out the the biggest and best songs earlier on Paul starting to catch him up in places around about this time you know you won't see me was a great example by polliver of one of his kind of signature songs next up nowhere man great song by John I think this is a great example of a song where Paul and John were trying to push each other to new highs and I think this is absolutely a song that was you know John trying to show how great he could be and fantastic harmonies in this song is one that I absolutely love it was of course it was used to great effect a few years later in the Yellow Submarine film but just a classic Beatles song mid mid era Beatles songs one of the best for me next up is George's first song on the album think for yourself so George it had very few songs on Beatles albums up to this point the number differs depending on which the album's you're familiar with but it's still a really small number and it's got that great fuzz bass on this song and great harmonies - I think this is George growing as a songwriter by this point and it had varying success up to this point this was definitely the the most progressive song that he'd written so far up to this point a real good song by George think for yourself excellent next up it's the word and this is I think this is sort of the the start of the Beatles going into that whole era of sort of Summer of Love and the things that came over the next couple years this was the first song that was specifically about love not loving a particular person like she loves you love me do etc but just love in general so they went on to do this sort of several times obviously with things like and all you need is love being a prime example but this was I think this was the start of that I think it's very heavily influenced by the time that they've been spending in America but again great harmonies between John and Paul and that song and just a yeah another great song next up is Michelle one of Paul sort of classic early ballads and I mean Paul 10 tells the story all the time about how this song came about and it had this sort of little French thing as he called it that he used to do at parties to try and impress the girls and they eventually one day John said hey you know that thing that you do could make it into a song and that's what Paul did so it's something that they've had hanging around for quite a long time before it'd been needed for this album but a classic early Paul song fantastic next up on the UK version of the album anyway its Ringo's contribution what goes on and it's actually this first songwriting credit on an album so that's credited to Lennon McCartney and Starkey so this is I think it's very much like a follow on to act naturally that they've done earlier on in the year on the help album this is more sort of their own writing of that song really but in a sort of away a progressive beetles kind of way so good good harmonies again between John Paul and ring on this song and you know it's not going to be the best song on the album I don't think but it's a good addition and I don't know how the people in America feel about that not being on the American version of Rubber Soul is not something that you're happy about you wish it been on there let me know about that I'd love to hear your comments on that next up it's another John song girl so another great example of the soft folk iikind of sums that they were doing in this period and it's got that great backing vocal that that goes through and John saw heavy breathing was a girl and he's really close up on the microphone and you get a real good sort of feeling as though John's in the room with you when you're listening to it but another example of the sort of confidence that they had at that time to be able to do that kind of thing on record and another fantastic song then we've got I'm looking through you which was Paul song that he wrote about Jane Asha who was his girlfriend at the time he was living with her in a house with her parents and it's a it's another great early Paul acoustic song and I think what's interesting for me is when I got to know the American version of the album up there and there's the stereo and the mono version now on the stereo version it's really interesting because there's two false starts of that that when Capitol Records got the tapes I just don't think they the either I don't know whether they couldn't be bothered or whether they just didn't edit the tapes that they had but you've got two false starts on there that left on the final version of the record which is quite it takes you back when you hear the album for the first time that version of it and it really sort of messes with you mind a bit but another great early acoustic song by Paul that was really showing how he was blossoming as a songwriter next up is another absolutely classic song it's in my life by John and so just a great introspective song talking about you know there are places I remember all my life I actually was up in Scotland recently and I was up a a John Lennon memorial right up on the north coast of Scotland in a place called der Ness which is a place he used to visit as a child regularly he went on holiday to Scotland every year as a child and this was one of the places that he was talking about allegedly in this song where he's saying there are places I'll remember all my life so that was really great to go and actually see one of those places but it not be one of the places you might naturally think of like one of his areas of Liverpool that he grew up and I love how this song was chosen to open up the Beatles Anthology film in 1995 on that first episode where you they do that little intro of just little scenes from the Beatles and then they talk about we're going back back back back and you see the camera panned down onto the Mersey and in my life plays and they do this beautiful montage of people who meant something to the Beatles story whether it's Brian Epstein or George Martin or the Beatles themselves and it's just fantastic song for evoking those kind of memories and absolute classic you've got the the George Martin part actually in the middle of the song where he plays keyboard and I believe what they did was in the studio didn't they play the song at half speed and he he recorded it sort of at half speed and then when the songs played at the normal speed they've obviously got to double the speed of that and it sounds like it's something completely different by that point but it was a great George Martin addition to the song as well anyway and absolute classic love it next up it's wait now this is a unique song on the album because it wasn't recorded for the Rubber Soul album it was recorded months earlier for help but wasn't used there now the other thing that to me that's interesting about this is that Paul has described weight has been completely his song John Lennon seemed to back that up when he was interviewed and I think in 1970 he said that that that must be one of Paul's songs as well and yet when you listen to the verse the the predominant voice is John's whereas no expect a John song to have John's voices the main voice of Paul songs of Paul's voice but there seems to be a Paul song where the predominant voice in the verse anyway is John's so it's interesting to think what the Beatles might have thought this song because they initially rejected it for the help album and they brought it back when they needed something else to finish this album off so I don't know whether it's their highest regarded song and it's not the greatest song on the album but it's still a good addition to the Beatles catalog and one that I'm very glad that we've got so yeah it's a good song next up on the UK version of the album anyway not the US version is George a second song on the album if I needed someone I adore this song I love the guitar intro that's on it and I think it's a again him showing that he's growing as a songwriter and this is one that they performed on the 1966 two so the Beatles obviously thought enough about it to fit it into their very short shows that they were still doing even by the end of the tour in period and wonderful song again it's great harmonies all the way throughout I love it last song on the album it's John's run for your life now this is an interesting song for various reasons and John later said that it was the song that he most regretted writing he said it was his least favorite Beatles song and it's a subject matter that you know would any sort of huge band these days sing something like that that's got such a spot with threatening tone to it now this isn't me complaining I am absolutely not one for judging things from the past by today's standards you know things there was a different set of rules back then pretty much so I'm not gonna be critical of it but I like the song and but I do I do love how things you could do back in those days you just you just wouldn't do now you wouldn't get away with it so much and but it's not the greatest closer to a Beatles album certainly and and of course John Lennon would be the first to admit that and but I like it as a sort of fun throwaway song but I don't think it's up to the quality of the rest of the album so that's the album finished anyway we also need to talk about this amazing cover that's on the front of here so that photograph I absolutely love this now that the story goes that they'd have this photo session which I believe was in John's garden and the photo was taken by Bob Freeman and when he was showing the Beatles the photographs that he'd taken he was projecting it onto a white card and it was sort of sat on a table something and at one point the card just slipped and because it slipped it elongated the faces on there and then just saw said wow that's fantastic can we have a like that anyone yeah why not so that's that's why you got that fantastic sort of stretched photograph of the Beatles and that one of the most notable things about this is the fact that their name does not appear on that cover anywhere they were so famous at but by this point you didn't need to put the Beatles on the front cover you know it's obvious who it is and that just shows something about how huge they were by that point the font I love the font as well on the writing and the font was created by a chap called Charles front who he described it I've got a quote actually for you and how he decided to to come up with that particular font I'm just gonna read this out to you he said if you tap into a rubber tree then you get a sort of a globule so I started thinking of creating a shape that represented that starting narrow and filling out so I love the thought that's gone into creating a brand new font for the album and and the story behind why that font looks like it is but I think altogether it makes for one of the all-time great album covers in my opinion me growing up and starting to listen to the Beatles in the 1980s as a child my mom and dad had a few Beatles albums not many that they had this helped Sergeant Pepper and the red and blue compilation albums but it was from looking at photographs like this that made me sort of think that well like wow who were these people and how can people look as cool as this and that's why I start to listen to those albums in my mom and dad's collection as opposed to other albums that they might have had so I've got a fantastic appreciation for this album that goes back to before I saw it became the Beatles fan really my overall opinion of this album is that I think it's one of the greatest albums of the 60s without a doubt and by that point of view it's also one of the Beatles greatest albums I did a Beatles albums ranking video a few months ago where I'll put a link up to that if you want to see where I rated this and it's up there whether it's right up there or not you'll have to watch and find out if you want to know but the thing with the Beatles albums is I think once you start to get into those top few you know there's there all the great style you've ever made as far as I'm concerned this is right up there especially that mono version and Rubber Soul in mono is just a far superior listening experience than Rubber Soul in stereo but overall yeah I'm saying this is one of the great albums certainly the 60s definitely by the Beatles quite possibly of all time absolutely love it I would like to hear your comments on this album is it one of your favorite Beatles albums do you prefer the the UK version or do you prefer the American version which did you grow up with is the songs that you miss from this from one that you know you wish were there let me know in the comments I would love to hear from you as always but in the meantime thank you very much for watching as I said if you'd like to subscribe to my channel that would be great because then you'll see any future videos like this that I do but I will see you again hopefully sometime and thank you very much for watching goodbye

Channel: Andrew Dixon

Views: 17,639

Keywords: rubber soul, the beatles rubber soul, rubber soul beatles, rubber soul review, rubber soul album review, the beatles album review, beatles album review, album review, the beatles, reaction to the beatles, the beatles reaction, john lennon, paul mccartney, robert freeman, reactions to the classics, andrew dixon, george harrison, george martin, in my life beatles, drive my car the beatles, norwegian wood, beatles reaction videos, beatles reaction, reaction beatles

Id: 3Kg3cPtFINs

Length: 21min 44sec (1304 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 19 2019